School Chaperone: Friday Office Poem
School Chaperone
Here are some
Of the things that they
Say never happened
In Washington DC
But they did
One student
Disappeared for
The worse part
Of a day
No explanation
A girl had
Drugs in her bag
She tossed them
Right before
Security, so stupid
For two days
I slept in my
Humid hotel room
And watched movies
Just to cry
Every night I
Could hear
Tray and Tony
In the parking lot
I let them
The kids bought
Some pills from
A pusher in
The park by
The hotel shuttle
They were so
Excited this was
The real tourism
At home they
Get drugs on an app
I confiscated the pills
And I enjoyed
Every tiny one
Even if they were
Only baking soda
There was
So much vomit
In the girls’ toilet
The hotel wouldn’t
Clean it
Some of your kids
Had never used
A plunger or
A toilet brush
Let alone Lysol
That’s what they
Learned on the
School trip where
We skipped the
Supreme Court
To go back
To the drugs
In the airport
Any of us could
Have gone to jail
I am supposed to
Stop then from
Having fun
And not have
Any fun myself
Who is to say
What is dangerous
And what is not
I might have died
From those pills
–Anonymous Admin
NOTE
FAQ regarding different legal aspects of school-sponsored field trips
Q Can I search a student’s belongings prior to leaving for a field trip?
Schools that wish to search student belongings or lodging accommodations for “suspicionless” reasons (i.e., for prohibited items) as part of a field trip must receive parent/guardian consent (or consent from the student if he or she is no longer a minor) to do so. The consent is not implied and cannot be passive. You may consider having a form in place to capture this written consent. Please be aware that only those school officials designated by board of education policy may search a student’s personal belongings.
— Melissa Thiel Collar, Attorney, Legal Counsel, Green Bay Area Public SD
